BG2.17

Alavandar, a great Acharya, in his Sthothra Rathnam, says that God can be realized only by bhakthi or devotion. With these opening remarks the lecture is started today [10^th April, 2007]. The intimacy between God and His devotees cannot be described. We are in Thirukkannapuram temple Muniyodharar sannidhi. Muniyodharar was a great devotee of Sri Sowri Perumal. He was serving the king of that locality. He used to take his food or any eatable only after offering them to Sri Sowri Perumal, in His sannidhi. One day, due to official work, he got delayed and so when he went to the temple to offer the pongal [a rice preparation], the temple doors were closed and so he offered the preparation mentally with utmost devotion and after eating he went asleep. What a wonder? When the temple doors were opened,next day, pongal that was prepared in Muniyodharar ’s house was scattered all over the temple giving the appearance the Lord had eaten the Pongal offering. What was offered from a devotee’s house was taken by the Lord to show His great love for the devotee. Even now this type of preparation called Muniyodharar pongal is offered to the Lord daily. This is prepared using rice, moong dal and ghee in the ratio of 5:3:2. This shows His concern for the devotee and He will resolve the doubts in the minds of devotee. That is the reason Sri Krishna preaches Arjuna that soul never perishes. We can see in Sri Vaishnava sanyasins carry tridhandam or three sticks bundled together. This is to indicate the thatvathrayam. We find that Chit is there to enjoy all Achits. ‘I ‘ is there to enjoy the sweet drink or the sandal fragrance. Then, where is the need for a third entity, Iswara or God? This doubt could have been haunting in many of our minds. We shall answer this logically. Let us assume A is a person and he has to take food exactly at 8am daily as per medical advice. So A who has procured the food materials and got the food prepared is at the dining table and food has already been served for A to eat. Just then, an outsider comes and starts conversation. He mentions so many relatives’ names and nothing is familiar to A. Nearly ten minutes are over and A asks the intruder as whom he wanted to say. He replies that he came in search of B. A says he was not B and after sending the intruder, A sits to eat. Just then a phone call comes and the person at the other end enquires so many things that are all strange to A and finally it is discovered it was a wrong number. Another ten minutes delayed and overall twenty minutes delay. When now A sits to eat, his wife refuses to serve and demands an explanation for the delay and A is unable to. One can call it accidental, incidental or coincidental, but it is an unexplained reason and some other force beyond one’s control is acting. This is the third entity we call Iswara. So in this world we have Achit and Chit, who enjoys Achit. Then there is the third force that controls both Chit and Achit, and we call that as Iswara or God. We will see the differences in these three entities. Achit is unintelligent and is subject to change in its form, though undestroyable. Chits are many in number and are not subject to changes and are very minute. Here, we all observe that everyone is happy sometimes and sorrow sometimes. Since it is the soul, which has the intelligence, it only can enjoy or suffer. Does it not mean that soul also is subject to changes? We should clearly note here that the contact between achit and chit brings about the feeling of happiness or sorrow. That is when the soul resides in a body, it feels sorry or delightful for various reasons. But if the soul is away from the body, then it is having an eternal bliss only. Therefore, the real nature of soul is happiness only and when in contact with a body, mixed feelings are felt. So, while change is natural to Achit, the changes felt when in contact with a body is unnatural to the soul or chit. Iswara or Paramathma on the other hand is never subject to any change, natural or artificial, temporary or permanent. That is why in Sri Vishnu sahasranama it is said “ avikaraya sudhdhaya nithyaya paramathmane..” This is a fundamental principle to be always kept in mind.